Electrical disconnects, also known as electrical disconnect switches, are commonly used in commercial and/or industrial sites in order to regulate the flow of electricity to certain areas or machines of the site. One type of electrical disconnect is an arm-style electrical disconnect, which features an arm or other extending member which can be actuated between a first position and a second position in order to respectively allow or disallow the flow of electricity.
Electrical disconnects can present a severe hazard to an operator that manually actuates the disconnect. In particular, an arc flash event can occur when the disconnect is actuated, causing bodily harm or death due to high temperatures or high voltage applied to the body.
One attempt to remedy this danger is to require that an operator wear personal protective equipment such as specialized arc flash clothing. However, different levels of potential arc flash events require various degrees of protective clothing and operators may not be fully informed as to which pieces of equipment correspond with each various potential danger. Further, operators must adorn and then remove the personal protective equipment at each instance in which the electrical disconnect is operated, an inconvenient necessity. Due to such inconvenience, operators may unfortunately seek shortcuts and operate the electrical disconnect without properly adorning all items of equipment, rendering themselves susceptible to injury.
Another attempted solution is to provide devices that allow for remote operation of the electrical disconnect. However, many of these devices include stored energy such as batteries, springs, or other items. Such stored energy can cause the device to inadvertently actuate, an inherently unsafe situation.
Remote devices that do not contain such stored energy may present other drawbacks. For example, a long reach pole requires clear access to the electrical disconnect, which may not always be available in a compact electrical room. Further, different levels of potential arc flash events can require different separation differences and devices that are not easily adjustable may not be able to satisfy this requirement.
Therefore, an improved device that allows remote operation of an electrical disconnect is desirable.